Rural-mail-box-mounting means



March 4 1924. 4 1,486,017

. w. s. HARDIN RURAL MAILBOX MOUNTING MEANS Filed May 21. 1923 I m Erna-Q1.

mummy /0 Y 4 a a. 3 J/ Patent Mar. 4, 1924.

near-n 'WELIAM s. nsnnrn, or OWANECO, ILLINOIS.

BURAL-MAIL-BOX-MOUIITING MEANS.

ap ica uonfniesn 21, 1923. Serial No. 640,514. I

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM SHERM'AN HARDIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Owaneco, in the county of Chris tian and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rural- Mail-Box-Mounting Means; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in supports for rural mail boxes and has for its object to provide a novel arrangement of parts for mounting a horizontally swinging box carrying arm upon a post spaced laterally from a highway, for instance across a ditch, novel means being provided for normally holding the arm extended so that the mail box will be in easy reach of the rural carrier, permitting said arm however to be retracted when grading or otherwise working along the edge of the highway and also permitting the mail to be removed from the box without the necessity of crossing the ditch, if one exists.

With the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel subject matter hereinafter described and claimed, the description being supplemented by the accompanying drawing.

Figures 1 and 2 are elevations looking in different directions.

Figure 3 is a top plan view.

Figure 4 is a detail vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the horizontally curved bar adapted to be mounted on the post and co-operable with a spring arm on the box-carrying arm to hold the latter.

In the drawing above briefly described, I have indicated a portion of a highway 1 having a ditch 2 along one edge, adjacent which a suitable post 3 is mounted. A horizontally swinging arm 4 is carried by the upper end of the post 3 to support any desired rural mail box 5. Normally, the arm 4 will extend to a, point adjacent the high way 1 and in so doing will project across the ditch 2, if one exists. Thus, the mail carrier can easily deposit mail in or remove it from the box, but when it is necessary to work along the highway, for instance with a road grader or a weed mowing machine, the arm 4 may be swung back entirely out of the way. This is also advantageous in case 1 mail is to be taken from or placed in the box iiig the ditch.

In the preferred form of construction, a horizontal bar 6 is secured by bolts 7 to the lower side of the arm 4 and hasits inner bv the owner, without the necessity of crossend odset downwardly and formed with an opening to receive a hinge pintle 8 carried by the post 3. An inclined brace arm 9 is also secured to the arm 4 and has its lower end engaged with another pintle 10. While bar preferably having a pair of notches 13 in its upper edge with either one of which the spring arm 11 may be engaged, according to the position at which the arm 4 is to be held. The arm 11 preferably extends beyond the bar 12 and is shaped to provide a handle 14 which may be grasped to release the arm from either of the notches 13 and to swing this arm and consequently the arm 4, to the desired position.

For mounting the bar 12 upon the post 3, I prefer to provide said bar with a pair of downwardly extending attaching arms 15 whose lower ends are offset inwardly from their upper ends to be bolted or otherwise secured to the post, said upper ends being secured to said bar.

By employing the construction shown and described, a device is provided which will be simple and inexpensive, yet will be highly desirable for the purposes set forth. As excellent results may be obtained from the details disclosed, they are preferably followed, but within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous changes may be made.

I claim:

1. Means for mounting a rural mail box on a post, comprising a box-carrying arm and means for pivoting it to the post on a vertical axis, a vertically yieldable but horizontally rigid arm connected to and extending from the inner endof said box-carrying arm, and a horizontally curved bar adapted to be mounted on the upper end of said post and having shoulders for engagement with 7 said vertically yieldable. arm to normally hold the box-carrying arm against pivotal movement.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said vertically, yieldable arm being in the form of a spring, the shoulders of .said curved bar being formed by notching the same to receive the spring arm.

3. A structure as specified'in' claim 1, said Vertically yieldable arm being adapted to extend beyond said curved bar to form a handle for releasing-this arm from engagement with said bar and for swinging the box-carrying arm horizontally.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto afiixed my signature.

WILLIAM S. HARDIN. 

